Official date for death of Hackman's wife put in doubt

A private healthcare clinic in New Mexico has cast doubt on official findings about the timing of the death of Gene Hackman's wife, Betsy Arakawa, claiming that she rang them on 12 February - the day after police say she died.

- Catherine Shoard

Dr Josiah Child, the head of Cloudberry Health in Santa Fe, where the couple lived, told the Mail on Sunday: "Mrs Hackman didn't die on 11 February because she called my clinic on 12 February."

Postmortem results indicated that Arakawa died of hantavirus, a rare rodent-borne respiratory disease, on 11 February, a week before her husband is believed to have died from heart disease. His pacemaker showed no activity after 18 February; he is also believed to have suffered from advanced Alzheimer's disease.